Bob MacIntyre insists he is in a ‘great spot’ at The Open Championship after teeing up a blockbuster weekend at Royal Birkdale.
Starting the day at three-under after a 67 on Thursday, MacIntyre was ticking along at level par for yesterday’s second round, but he exploded into life by holing a 40-foot putt for eagle on the par five 17th, only to then drop a shot with a bogey on the last.
It was still another fine round of golf from the Scot, who sits on four-under par at the halfway point, four shots back from leader Lucas Herbert.
There was also a late surge from Bryson DeChambeau, who birdied his final two holes to move up to seven-under par and into second place, only to be hit with a controversial two-shot penalty following his round after officials ruled that the American had stood on long grass behind his ball on the fifth hole.
On an historic day at Birkdale, Australian Herbert shot 62 to equal the lowest-ever round in a men’s major — before American Sam Burns also posted that score barely 20 minutes later.
MacIntyre will go hunting the Claret Jug over these next two days, seeking to win his first major on the baked-out links at Birkdale.
Bob MacIntyre has put himself in prime position to challenge for The Open this weekend
‘Yeah, I’m in a great spot,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘I can’t really be in a better spot going into the weekend. It’s where I want to be.
‘I feel like the game’s in a good spot. I’m missing it in the right spots, the short game is sharp, putting’s decent. Just maybe hit a few more greens and make life a little bit easier.’
With the breeze blowing and the course running extremely fast, the conditions were much tougher than when MacIntyre played early on Thursday morning.
He got off to a poor start yesterday, dropping a shot at the 3rd and having to scramble to make par on the 4th.
MacIntyre admitted that he was hot under the collar in the early part of his round and had to fight to stay calm.
‘I’ve talked about patience and discipline,’ he continued. ‘The shot [on the 3rd] was hit into the heart of the green.
‘I was kind of being a bit aggressive, trying to get it in tight to that back right pin, knowing that just long was okay, but it ran that couple yards further on into the rough.
‘I was running hot there, but it was about getting back in the game. It’s just about patience, a round of one-under par is okay out here.
‘I’m not nice to myself [when he mutters away to himself]. That’s just the standard I set. When I make a mistake, it’s one of them ones like we just switched off. I felt like for a couple of holes we switched off.
‘But, overall, I think it was a great round of golf. Yeah, I don’t have any other words. It was a great, great round of golf.’
There was frustration on the 18th for MacIntyre as he recorded his second bogey of the day
Looking down from the top of the leaderboard, Herbert is the man everyone else will have to chase heading into today’s third round.
The 30-year-old, who plays on the LIV Golf Tour, actually had a four-foot putt for a 61 on the 18th green, which would have broken the record for the lowest ever round in a men’s major.
But it slipped agonisingly past the hole for what was his only bogey of the day, in a scintillating round which featured nine birdies.
‘It was not lost on me the amount of history in major championships and the opportunity I had to obviously break the record,’ he said.
‘But then to tie it as well is still something I’m really proud of. I’m a golf nerd anyway, so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that.
‘The first 12 holes, I might not play 12 better holes in my life. I was eight-under through 12 — and you could make a very good argument I could have been a couple better as well.
‘I have dreams of winning The Open Championship for sure, and I’m in a great position to do that through two rounds. There’s still a lot of golf to go and a lot of work to do. I have a great opportunity.’
Incredibly, barely 20 minutes later, Burns holed out for birdie from a greenside bunker to match Herbert’s 62 and an overall total of five-under par.
The American wasn’t even sure if he would be playing in The Open due to his wife recently giving birth to a baby daughter — and he is very much learning on the job with links golf.
‘I think it was probably last Friday I decided I was definitely playing here this week,’ he said. ‘Honestly, I thought there was zero per cent chance. Then we ended up having our daughter on the 3rd. Even then, I still wasn’t expecting to play.
Australian Lucas Herbert shot a scintillating 62 to equal the lowest-ever score at a men’s major
‘I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are. She is amazing, a superhero. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here.
‘I am not actually a huge fan of links golf, just purely because I haven’t really played well on links courses before, but it’s going nicely so far this week.’
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy recovered from a poor opening round, shooting 67 yesterday to move on to one-under for the tournament.
Local hero Tommy Fleetwood sits on four-under and is joined on that total by Jon Rahm as well as World No 1 and reigning champion Scottie Scheffler.
Big names who missed the cut included Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Cam Smith, Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark.
